'Hand over genocide suspects'
2007-07-22 19:58
Kigali - Rwandan Justice Minister Tharcisse Karugarama has urged France to extradite two Rwandans wanted over their suspected role in the 1994 genocide in his country.
The French authorities on Friday detained Wenceslas Munyeshyaka, a Catholic priest, and Laurent Bucyibaruta, both accused by the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda of genocide, murder and rape.
"The best solution for us would see him (Munyeshyaka) sent back to Rwanda to serve his sentence," the justice minister said in reference to a life jail term given in absentia by a Rwandan court last year.
"If for one reason or another France cannot extradite him to Rwanda, it should transfer him to the Tribunal," he added.
The genocide was sparked by the assassination in April 1994 of then Hutu president Juvenal Habyarimana. In just a few months, about 800 000 people - mainly minority Tutsis and moderate Hutus - were massacred by Hutu extremists.
Kigali had repeatedly accused France of supporting the perpetrators and of failing to co-operate with the UN-backed Crime Tribunal.
Kigali severed diplomatic ties with France last year after French judge Jean-Louis Bruguiere issued warrants against close aides to Rwandan President Paul Kagame over the 1994 assassination of Habyarimana.
- SAPA